One of my favorite genealogy cartoons shows a lawyer reading a will to a group of people. He reads "being of sound mindey windey". Actually, genealogically, that could be a good thing!! Probate records are all the records created in the disposition of someone's estate. If a will is contested because the person was not of sound "mindey windey" many interesting records will be created!
If a person does not leave a will, he or she is said to have died intestate. Will or no will, if the deceased had real or personal property of any value at the time of death, records will have been created when the estate was disposed of...
Read More
Orphanage records records have been kept for at least 200 years. Orphanages were operated by civil authorities, religious groups and priority benefactors. Unfortunately, the records they kept vary in type and are often hard to locate.
In early America, local courts elected or appointed someone to deal with the orphans. If property was involved, the court would appoint guardians. The orphan might have been bound out to learn a trade. These records would be at the county court house. Some are indexed under orphans, apprentices or paupers...
Read More
In 1796, the Irish Linen Board published a list of nearly 60,000 individuals who received awards for planting between one and five acres of flax. Individuals who planted one acre were awarded four spinning-wheels, and those growing five acres were awarded a loom. The "Flax Grower's List," is an extremely useful genealogical record since virtually no Irish census of the nineteenth century has survived.
With the information listed, you may be able to compensate for the lack of genealogical records available for Ireland at this time. Land records are unique because they allow you to obtain an idea of your family's migration pattern and help you determine local resources to research for more information. If you are one of the nearly 70 million individuals worldwide with Irish heritage, the Flax Grower's List is an important resource...
Read More
Originally prepared by Samuel Lewis, the gazetteers reproduced on this database contain detailed information on English, Irish, and Scottish locales as they existed in the mid-1800s. A gazetteer is a topographical (or geographical) dictionary in which a location's political and physical features are defined. For example, for a location listed you may learn information on local industry, nearby towns, population, and primary landholders...
Read More
This database contains immigration records for approximately 70,000 Scottish immigrants to the United States and Canada. Extracted from a great variety of sources both in North America and Scotland, the information collected here would otherwise be difficult to access. Records were compiled from private and public sources including passenger lists, newspapers, church records, land deeds, records of indenture, and oaths of allegiance.
Materials on this database originally spanned sixteen volumes authored by Scottish emigration authority David Dobson and published by the Genealogical Publishing Company. The author of more than twenty books, Mr. Dobson specializes in migration patterns and the historical background of the Scottish people's emigration. Among the sixteen comprehensive volumes you'll find The Original Scots Colonists and a series of supplements to that work. By itself, that work identifies virtually all of the Scottish settlers to America in the 1600s. The other volumes collected here are of equal quality and value.
Read More
The German and Swiss immigrants included in this resource mostly settled in the Carolinas, Georgia, Louisiana, New York, Pennsylvania and Texas. Among the great variety of resources collected here, you'll find historical essays on German influence in the settlement of Texas, the great Palatine migration from the Rhineland in 1709, as well as German and Swiss migration patterns... Read More
Sources for German and Swiss Settlers in America, 1700s-1800s:
Lists of Swiss Emigrants in the Eighteenth Century to the American Colonies
by Albert B. Faust and Gaius M. Brumbaugh
In two volumes, this is the authoritative work on Swiss emigration to the Carolinas and Pennsylvania in the 18th century. Volume I identifies approximately 2,000 emigrants from the Canton of Zurich during the period 1734-1744. Volume II extends the scope of investigation to Bern for the years 1706 through 1795 and Basel for 1734 through 1794. Generally, you'll find the following information about an individual included in one of these volumes: age, date of birth or baptism, names of family members, occupation, place of origin, and destination.
Historic Background and Annals of the Swiss and German Pioneer Settlers of Southeastern Pennsylvania, and of their Remote Ancestors
by H. Frank Eshleman
This work explores the background of the great sectarian movements in Germany, Switzerland, and Holland. Much of the focus is on Lancaster County genealogy and the emigration from the Palatinate in the eighteenth century. Substantial sections are devoted to lists of early settlers and biographical sketches of those who subsequently became known as Pennsylvania Germans.
The German Immigration into Pennsylvania Through the Port of Philadelphia from 1700 to 1775 and the Redemptioners
by Frank R. Diffenderffer
This important historical study deals with the background of German immigration (especially that of the Palatines). It details the causes, migration patterns, the leading figures in the movement, and the disposition of the immigrants. Much of the focus of the book is on the redemptioners, those who bound themselves to service as payment for the trip to America. It covers the types of bond servants and evaluates their role in the development of the German settlements in America.
List of Germans from the Palatinate who Came to England in 1709
by John Tribbeko and George Ruperti
This work lists nearly 2,000 heads of household who emigrated from the Palatine region of Germany to England in 1709 (most of whom continued on to America). For each, the following information is provided: occupation, age, marital status, ages of sons and daughters, and church affiliation.
True and Authentic Register of Persons who in the Year 1709 Journeyed from Germany to America
by Ullrich Simmendinger
The Simmendinger Register, as this work is called, consists of an alphabetical list of approximately 500 Palatine families who settled in or near the Mohawk Valley of New York in the year 1717. These families were the survivors of the great Palatine migration from the Rhineland in 1709. The migration took them first to England and then, in 1710, under the patronage of Queen Anne, to America. A participant in this migration, the author published this work upon his return to Germany in 1717 as a message from the colony overseas to friends and relatives back home in Germany. This is an authoritative register of pioneer Palatine families and early settlers of the Mohawk Valley.
Pennsylvania German Immigrants, 1709-1786 Lists Consolidated from Yearbooks of "The Pennsylvania German Folklore Society"
by Don Yoder
The lists compiled here set out to identify German emigrants in their homeland and in Pennsylvania. You'll find reference to a great variety of records, including manumission records, parish registers, passports, church records, wills, and tax lists. The emigrants are frequently listed in Strassburger and Hinke's Pennsylvania German Pioneers. Evidence of immigration such as dates of arrival and ship names were often drawn from that work. The materials often indicate causes for emigration, dates of emigration, the emigrant's occupation, his dates of birth and marriage, place of birth and residence, and names of family members, sometimes with lines of descent for several generations. The materials cited after arrival in America generally identify the emigrant in connection with his place of settlement in southeastern Pennsylvania.
The Book of Names, Especially Relating to the Early Palatines and the First Settlers in the Mohawk Valley
by Lou D. MacWethy
Originally published in 1933, this classic work was the first to list the names of early Palatines of New York State, the original settlers of the Mohawk Valley, known as theGateway to the West. The estimated 20,000 names are classified, combined, and arranged to enable the researcher to identify Palatine immigrants in relation to specific categories of records. Among the important lists of names are the following: The Kocherthal records of baptisms, marriages, and deaths, 1708-1719; Palatine heads of families, from Gov. Hunter's Ration Lists, 1710-1714; Lists of Palatines in 1709 (the four London lists of emigrants from Germany, most of whom emigrated to America); Palatines remaining and newly arrived in New York, from the colonial census of 1710; Names of Palatine children apprenticed by Gov. Hunter, 1710-1714; and various lists of Palatines in the colonial militia of New York. "In few other listings will readers find such attention to detail. A very good addition to most libraries." RQ, Reference Services Division, American Library Association (Winter 1969).
Early Eighteenth Century Palatine Emigration
by Walter Allen Knittle
This definitive work lists approximately 12,000 Palatine settlers along with the names of their family members and their dates of emigration. Generally, these individuals settled in Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and the Hudson and Mohawk Valleys of New York.
A Collection of Upwards of Thirty Thousand Names of German, Swiss, Dutch, French and Other Immigrants in Pennsylvania from 1727 to 1776
by Israel Daniel Rupp
Consisting of 319 ship passenger lists, here you'll find a listing of more than 1000 settlers who came to Pennsylvania from other states. For each, you'll learn the name of the ship on which the individual sailed and that ship's origin and date of arrival. This book includes an index of ships as well as a surname index.
The Germans of Colonial Georgia, 1733-1783
by George F. Jones
This is a definitive list of the German-speaking inhabitants of colonial Georgia. Composed of Salzburgers from Austria, Palatines from the southern Rhineland, Swabians from the Territory of Ulm, and Swiss, the so-called Georgia "Dutch" represented the largest ethnic group in Georgia in the mid-18th century. Today, their descendants are scattered throughout the fifty states. In this revised edition of his classic account of The Germans of Colonial Georgia, George Jones, emeritus professor of German and the preeminent authority on the German-speaking population of colonial Georgia, has compiled an alphabetical list of approximately 3,500 Germans. While information varies for each individual, often you'll learn German-speaking region of origin, one or more dates of record in Georgia, names of family members, dates of vital events, name of vessel upon which the individual traveled, and information as to sponsor, legatee, or servant. The author eliminated the confusion that often stems from the frequently garbled versions of colonial German names by putting both the colonist's family name and given name in the correct German form. This will make gathering additional information about an immigrant ancestor in European archives much easier. In this revised edition, Mr. Jones added many newly discovered names and clarified previous entries. The work concludes with a very helpful index to 18th-century place names of Germanic Europe.
German Immigrant Servant Contracts Registered at the Port of Philadelphia, 1817-1831
by Farley Grubb
More than forty percent of all German immigrants entering the port of Philadelphia in the early 19th century entered into servitude as a means of paying for their passage. After the servant contract was negotiated and the shipper paid, the contract was registered with the government. This register of servant contracts, one of the few existing documents that can be used to identify German immigrants for the period 1817-1831, contains a summary of the key elements in the actual contracts. This often includes servant's name, buyer's name, occupation, township, county and state of residence, length of servitude, and amount paid to the shipper. Altogether nearly 1,200 of these contracts were registered in the years 1817 through 1819 while only 73 entries were recorded between 1820 and 1831. Servant contracts such as those compiled here are especially useful since they cover the period of time before official passenger arrival records were kept.
A New Land Beckoned: German Immigration to Texas, 1844-1847
by Chester W. Geue and Ethel H. Geue
A compilation of original source material on the settlement of Germans in Texas from 1844 to 1847, here you will find lists of ships from Germany and the United States as well as indication of the Germans they brought to Texas. For each of the more than 4,000 individuals listed, you'll learn age, names of accompanying family members, place of residence in Europe, and dates of departure and arrival.
New Homes In A New Land: German Immigration To Texas, 1847-1861
by Ethel H. Geue
This work is essentially a compilation of information gleaned from 105 passenger lists of ships that arrived at Galveston between the years 1847 and 1861. For each of the 5,600 individuals listed, you'll learn age, family, residence in Europe, name of ship, date of departure from Germany, date of arrival in Texas, and name of Texas county in which the immigrant settled. In addition to the lists of immigrants, this work includes a brief history of German immigration to Texas as well as the names and descriptions of some of the Germans who were in Texas before it was a Republic. New Homes in a New Land is the sequel to the author's A New Land Beckoned and brings the story of the German immigration to Texas up to the time of the Civil War.
German Immigrants: Lists of Passengers Bound From Bremen to New York, 1847-1871, With Places of Origin
by Gary J. Zimmerman and Marion Wolfert
In four separate books, this collection is based on National Archives passenger lists of vessels arriving at New York. It is especially valuable since the original lists of emigrants leaving Bremen were destroyed during World War II. Because this list only includes emigrants for whom specific places of origin were given, not all Bremen passengers of the 1847-1871 period are included. For each of the approximately 125,000 immigrants included, you'll find details concerning age, date of arrival, name of ship on which they traveled, and original source material. The immigrants' names are arranged in alphabetical order and family members are grouped together, usually under the head of household.
Pennsylvania German Pioneers: A Publication of the Original Lists of Arrivals in the Port of Philadelphia from 1727 to 1808
by Ralph Beaver Strassburger
The most complete collection of colonial passenger lists ever published, this work comprises all the original lists of persons who arrived in the port of Philadelphia between 1727 and 1808. Assembled from state archives, you'll find the following information about each of the 38,000 immigrants referenced here: names of ships, dates of arrival, and places of origin. Since no other port maintained such extensive and continuous records, this work is foremost among compilations of its kind.
Volume I covers the period 1727-1775 and contains 324 ship passenger lists, captains' lists, signers of the oath of allegiance, and signers of the oath of abjuration.
Volume II covers the period 1785-1808 and includes 182 additional lists, in many cases giving ages, occupations, and birthplaces. With 50,000 references, the index to this volume contains all names as well as their variant spellings.
Rhineland Emigrants: Lists of German Settlers in Colonial America
edited by Don Yoder
This collection of articles pertaining to the European origins of Pennsylvania German immigrants originally appeared in the magazine Pennsylvania Folklife(successor to The Pennsylvania Dutchman). Virtually all the emigrants mentioned in this work are cited with reference to church, parish, provincial records, and other records located in the archival repositories of the old Palatinate and adjoining provinces in southwest Germany. Where possible, individuals are cited again with reference to a corresponding range of Pennsylvania source materials (notably church records, wills, and tax lists). The emigrants are frequently listed in Strassburger and Hinke's Pennsylvania German Pioneers. Evidence of immigration such as dates of arrival and ship names were often drawn from that work.
The Settlement of the German Coast of Louisiana and Creoles of German Descent
by J. Hanno Deiler
This book is a first-rate resource for researchers interested in the early German and Swiss settlers of Louisiana (and especially in the area along the Mississippi west of New Orleans known as the German Coast). The author devotes the beginning of this work to the early German families and their settlements in Louisiana. Nearly one-half of the book lists, along with genealogical notices, some 2,000 Names of German Habitants on Both Banks of the Mississippi Above New Orleans, as based on the official census of 1724, and a roster of Additional German Names Not in the [1794] Census. Included among these families, it should be noted, are Germans from Maryland and Creoles of German descent.
Naturalizations of Foreign Protestants in the American and West Indian Colonies
by Montague S. Giuseppi
Here you will find copies of all the returns of naturalizations of foreign Protestants sent from the Colonies to the Lords Commissioners for Trade and Plantations between 1740 and 1772. It refers to some 6,500 persons (mostly Germans) who were naturalized in accordance with an act of 1740. The returns are from the colonies of South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, New York, and Pennsylvania, as well as Jamaica in the West Indies. The entries generally include name, religion, town and county of residence, and date of naturalization.
Persons Naturalized in the Province of Pennsylvania, 1740-1773
by John B. Linn and William H. Egle
Most of the 3,000 individuals included in this volume were Quakers. For each, you'll learn full name, place of residence, date of naturalization, and location of the county court and the name of the judges who conferred citizenship upon the applicants for naturalization.
Names of Foreigners who Took the Oath of Allegiance to the Province and State of Pennsylvania, 1727-1775
by William Henry Egle
This work is an exhaustive list of mostly German immigrants who arrived in Pennsylvania between 1727 through 1775 and 1786 through 1808. For the approximately 35,000 individuals included here, you'll learn full name, name of ship, date of arrival, port of origin, and names and ages of family members.
Search a consolidated database of previously scattered Ontario marriage records! Save yourself time and effort - hunt for your ancestors' marriages in one master index, instead of looking through microfilms of 40 county marriage registers or indexes one-by-one.
- Comprehensive coverage of Ontario marriage records between 1858 and July 1869
- Approximately 158,000 individuals referenced
- Genealogically valuable because these marriages were documented before province-wide registration of marriages began.
Read More
Sail across the Atlantic with your Irish ancestors using an all-new volume of Irish to America - completely new details for 550,000+ additional immigrants. Referencing arrivals in Boston between 1846 and 1851 and New York between 1866 and 1886.
You'll discover information taken from original ship manifest schedules - documents filed by all vessels entering United States. Irish to America was produced in collaboration with the Balch Institute Center for Immigration Research and the John F. Kennedy Trust.
A good deal of information in this database was collected from immigrants to the United States during the Great Famine (1845-1849). Between 1847 and 1854, 1.6 million Irish immigrated to the U.S., mostly arriving in New York, marking the first voluntary mass migration to the United States...
Read More
This data set contains alphabetical listings of approximately 355,000 individuals who were married in Ontario, Canada between August 1869 and 1886. With this great resource — you'll find previously uncollected marriage records together in one place... Read More
A unique land survey taken to determine the amount of tax payable to the Church of Ireland by landholders, the Tithe Applotment Books collectively represent a virtual census for pre-Famine Ireland. Because the results of this land survey were originally compiled in nearly 2,000 hand-written volumes, this resource is known to genealogists as the Tithe Applotment Books. This database references the counties that make up present-day Northern Ireland: Counties Antrim, Armagh, Derry, Down, Fermanagh, and Tyrone.
In the original enumeration, each landholder was recorded along with details such as townland, size of holding, land quality and types of crops. The amount of tithe payable by each landholder was based on all of these factors and calculated by a formula using the average price of wheat and oats from 1816-23.
Read More
This database details the arrivals of approximately 89,000 individuals who sailed to Baltimore in the nineteenth century. The information was extracted from National Archives Microfilm Series M255, Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving at Baltimore, 1820-1891. While the entire microfilm series spans 50 rolls, this Family Archive covers rolls 1 through 8 and includes individuals who arrived between September 2, 1820 and May 28, 1852.
Most Baltimore passenger lists were collected following the 1833 enactment of a Maryland state law that required passenger lists be submitted to the mayor upon a ship's arrival. The information collected on those passenger lists and preserved on this database can help you create a well-rounded picture of your ancestor's arrival in America.
As you know, it is often the little details that help bring your family history to life. Because of this, we included more than just the basic information available about a person on the actual microfilm. For example, you'll often learn the type of ship an individual sailed on. Types of ships include:
- Bark: A ship of three to five masts with the after mast fore-and-aft rigged.
- Brig: A two-masted square-rigged sailing ship.
- Galliot: A small galley propelled by sails and oars.
- Ketch: A large fore-and-aft rigged boat with two masts.
- Schooner: A fore-and-aft rigged sailing ship.
Read More
This database details the arrivals of approximately 89,000 individuals who sailed to Baltimore in the nineteenth century. The information was extracted from National Archives Microfilm Series M255, Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving at Baltimore, 1820-1891. While the entire microfilm series spans 50 rolls, this database covers rolls 1 through 8 and includes individuals who arrived between September 2, 1820 and May 28, 1852.
Most Baltimore passenger lists were collected following the 1833 enactment of a Maryland state law that required passenger lists be submitted to the mayor upon a ship's arrival. The information collected on those passenger lists and preserved on this database can help you create a well-rounded picture of your ancestor's arrival in America.
As you know, it is often the little details that help bring your family history to life. Because of this, we included more than just the basic information available about a person on the actual microfilm. For example, you'll often learn the type of ship an individual sailed on. Types of ships include... Read More
The first Homestead Law was enacted in 1862 and was intended to encourage settlement in the West. As with the Donation Lands, the only requirement was to live on and improve the land through cultivation. A very small filing fee was all that was required.
Although only an estimated 780,000 people received patents under the Homestead Law, 2 million applications were made, dispersing approximately 285 million acres.
Applicants initially had to be a head of household, over 21 if single, a citizen or have applied for naturalization, and had not "borne arms against the government". Single women and widows could apply in their own right. The final application for the certificate of patent could be made five years after the completion of the residency requirements. If a homesteader died, his widow or heirs could continue to qualify for the claim, meeting the same requirements...
Read More
With information on more than 113,000 immigrants from nearly 100 countries, this database will be a great resource for researchers whose family settled in Pennsylvania. Information compiled in this database was originally edited by P. William Filby and produced as a book volume called Philadelphia Naturalization Records. That book volume was compiled from an eleven-volume index originally completed by the Work Projects Administration (WPA) around 1940. That index is generally considered to be one of the most important documents in the American naturalization and immigration archive...
Read More
Follow your ancestors as they journey from Ireland to a new life! Touching on 46,000 Irish passengers who arrived in the United States and Canada, these records focus primarily on the 19th century... Read More
Passenger lists are important primary sources of arrival data for the vast majority of immigrants to the United States in the nineteenth century. With the single exception of federal census records, passenger lists are the largest, most continuous, and the most uniform body of population records for the entire country. While researching original passenger lists can often be tedious and difficult, this Family Archive makes finding your immigrant ancestors easier than ever. It contains alphabetical listings of approximately 161,000 individuals who arrived at the port of Boston, Massachusetts from foreign ports between 1821 and 1850...
Request a Free Lookup From This Database.
This database contains approximately 1,645,000 records from the U.S. Department of the Interior's Bureau of Land Management (BLM). The records are often the only available source offering the identification of legal land descriptions and transfer of property ownership from the U.S. Government to private land owners. They show who obtained what land from the Federal Government, and when it was obtained. Source documents include homesteads, cash sales, warrants, private land claims, swamp lists, state selections, and railroad lists...
Request a Free Lookup From This Database